Tag: And I Love You

I’m Kate Kisset waving to you from my car. Get ready, we’re going on a road trip today to celebrate the release of my third book AND I LOVE YOU. I’m about an hour’s drive north of San Francisco in California wine country, the setting of my series.

While Lulu’s running back into the house to grab her stuff, allow me to introduce myself.

Readers say my stories are “sexy, and refreshing, with complex characters and plots that serve up humor without holding back on heart.”

I took the phrase “write what you know,” to a whole new level :). My books take place right outside my front door. I use “real” wine country locations, actual events and pour genuine wine whenever possible.

Here’s the scoop on my series:

Love in the Vineyards is a small-town romance series centering around six very hot Italian brothers from a Napa Valley wine dynasty and three strong, passionate women who are roommates at nearby villa in Sonoma Valley. The Santino brothers are swoon-worthy, protective, loyal men who’ll do anything for the women they adore…

(FYI: You don’t have to know anything about wine. My characters just drink it.)

I have three books out so far: Love at Last,Love’s Home Run and my latest, And I Love You. All the novels are standalone romances and readers are loving them. Check out the hundreds of five-star reviews on Amazon to see what I mean.

Lulu’s getting in the car now, so buckle up. I’m going to take you to some of the scenes in my books and show you around California wine country…

*All the photos are my own, taken with my phone camera.

Let’s park at the villa. In Love in the Vineyards, the heroines of Love at Last,Love’s Home Run and And I love You live in this historic villa.

Lulu Castelli the landlady of what I call “Bella Villa” is more like family to my characters, Sarah, Danica, and Juliet.

In my story, Lulu is the great-granddaughter of a famous winemaker very similar to Agoston Haraszthy. Mr. Haraszthy, the self-proclaimed “Count of Buena Vista,” created California’s first premium winery in Sonoma Valley in 1857.

The actual building is an exact replica of the family home the “Count” built in the 1800s. The property is now Bartholomew Winery property in Sonoma Valley.

Moving along, we’re approaching the Sonoma Plaza in the center of town.

The series begins with Love at Last when Sarah Dupont moves to Sonoma after her fiancé cheated on her with a co-worker at their San Francisco bakery.

Sarah opens her own café on the Sonoma Plaza and gets tricked into giving notorious panty-dropper-actor Jamie Santino baking lessons for his upcoming movie role. (*Inside scoop: The “real” Basque Boulangerie Café just a few doors down from theatre was the inspiration behind Sarah’s Vine Café in the story.)

Their love affair ends up throwing Sarah for a loop. Her heart’s already been broken once. How can she believe Jamie isn’t acting when everything he says sounds too good to be true?

Let’s pull over for a second. A lot of people think Sonoma looks a lot like Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls. Do you notice a similarity?

(*Inside scoop: Jamie Santino shows up at a screening at the “real” Sebastiani theater at the end of Love at Last.)

Did I mention that every woman at Bella Villa and all the Santino brothers are getting happily-ever-afters in this series? Let’s head over to the ballpark, it’s just off the plaza.

She didn’t think he’d ever come home or she wouldn’t have “accidentally” kissed his older brother Michael.

(Inside Scoop: The Napa Crushers, Luca’s team in the book was inspired by Sonoma’s “real” indie team, the Sonoma Stompers.)

I’m going to head back to the put the car in park now. In book three, my latest release And I Love You, the scenes move back and forth from Sonoma to San Francisco.

Disc jockey Juliet St. John, (the third Bella Villa roommate), has been patiently waiting for her happily-ever-after and she finds one with single dad, Gabe Durand.

Here’s the short blurb:

She’s the overnight DJ desperate for a caffeine infusion.He’s the late-night bartender who has just what she needs.If they play their cards right they might both get the refill of a lifetime.

(Inside scoop: I used to be a San Francisco disc jockey and just like Juliet, I was demoted to the graveyard shift! I used to run from my car to the station every night praying I wouldn’t get mugged.)

I think this is a good time to wrap up our drive today. Thank you so much for having me Lulu! I hope you and your readers enjoyed the mini-tour of wine country and got to know me a little better.

I’m working on book #4 of the series, Michael Santino’s story now. This one’s a doozy. I’m sticking with the plan to “write what you know” and setting this story in the middle of the wildfires that hit northern California wine county last fall. It’ll be “hot” to say the least!